The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) has today issued its EASA Best Practice Recommendation on Online Behavioural Advertising. The recommendation provides for an industry-wide self-regulatory standard for online behavioural advertising (OBA), which will ensure consumer privacy protection across Europe.

“EASA’s Best Practice Recommendation will provide European consumers with clear information and innovative ways to manage their choices concerning online behavioural advertising, as well as making available the use of the tried and tested national self-regulatory organisations if consumers wish to further complain”, explained Angela Mills Wade, Vice Chairman of EASA and Chairman of the industry-wide Steering Group that developed the recommendation.

The recommendation has pan-industry support from ad networks, advertisers, agencies, media (including the digital interactive media) and EASA self-regulatory organisations. With the adoption of the Best Practice Recommendation, national advertising self-regulatory organisations are now committed to applying self-regulatory standards to OBA, handling complaints thereon, and introducing the principles of the recommendation into their Codes.

In practical terms, the Best Practice Recommendation promotes the identification of OBA ads via a uniform European-wide icon, which clicks through to a simple mechanism that provides consumers with full transparency, allowing them to exercise their online choices. The icon will be included in or around all online behavioural advertisements and will signal to consumers that OBA is being used. The icon will be interactive, allowing them to find out more about which companies are involved in serving the ad and also to click through to a European-wide website (www.youronlinechoices.eu). The website will provide information about OBA and a simple means for consumers, in their national language, to exercise their choice about whether they want to receive OBA ads. Consumers that want to complain about an OBA ad will be able to do so via the established, independent advertising self-regulatory organisation in their home country.  

The EASA Best Practice Recommendation incorporates and complements IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Europe’s self-regulatory Framework for OBA that applies across the EU and EEA, which was also released today. EASA has worked with IAB Europe to deliver a Best Practice Recommendation that covers all parts of the advertising industry.

"EASA's network of respected and recognised national complaints handling systems complements IAB Europe's pan-European compliance and enforcement mechanisms that primarily cover ad-networks. The systems together prove to consumers and policy makers that industry can self-regulate in a meaningful way", said Kimon Zorbas, Vice President IAB Europe.

The Best Practice Recommendation was subject to public consultation and has been informed by responses from civil society and the wider advertising industry. It addresses the privacy aspects about OBA currently being examined by the EU Commission and is a direct response to the call by EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes for a significant cross-industry self-regulatory initiative regarding OBA. It was the subject of two EU Round Tables organised by DG Information Society and Media (DG InfSo) and chaired by Robert Madelin, Director-General of DG Infso. 

The recommendation formulates an agreement to be implemented at local level via the national advertising industry and self-regulatory organisations. EASA has made a commitment to the European Commission that its recommendation will be implemented in at least 70% of all EASA self-regulatory organisations within a year.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

EASA and its industry members
The European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) is the single authoritative voice of advertising self-regulation. EASA promotes high ethical standards in commercial communications by means of effective self-regulation for the benefit of consumers and business.

As a non-profit organisation based in Brussels, EASA brings together

• 34 national advertising self-regulatory organisations (of which 26 in Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK)
  
• and 15 organisations representing the advertising industry in Europe (advertisers: World Federation of Advertisers (WFA); agencies: European Association of Communication Agencies (EACA); media: Association of Commercial Television (ACT), Association of European Radios (AER), Advertising Information Group (AIG), European Association of Directory and Database Publishers (EADP), Association of Television and Radio Sales Houses (egta), European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA), European Publishers’ Council (EPC), European Sponsorship Association (ESA), European Federation of Magazine Publishers (FAEP), Federation of European Direct Marketing (FEDMA), International Advertising Association (IAA), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), JCDecaux (outdoor media owner)).

For further information go to: http://www.easa-alliance.org/page.aspx/155.


EASA Best Practice Recommendations
EASA’s Best Practice Recommendations offer support and advice to EASA self-regulatory organisations and industry members on the practice of advertising self-regulation and other related areas.


Online behavioural advertising
Online behavioural advertising is a practice that is based on a user's internet browsing activity with a specific device and allows brands to deliver adverts that reflect the user's interests.


Advertising self-regulatory organisation
An advertising self-regulatory organisation is a system devised by the advertising industry for its own regulation.